I'm getting an electric vehicle (EV) charger but how to get my meter tails upgraded and a DP isolation switch fitted? Who and how much?

Great to see some excellent peer-peer support going on here!

Hoping this helps you in making the decision on getting that isolator installed, @tony1tf. Our Support Team will be happy to help arrange that appointment for you - don’t forget the quickest way to reach the team is via our Live chat which you can access by clicking ‘Message us’ on this page.

As isolator switches are not only installed to support EV chargers I believe @Blastoise186 is right in thinking that the OLEV grant wouldn’t cover this part of the installation. There’s more advice on all things OLEV on this great guide written by our content team.

Hope this helps - Let us know how you get on! 

Ordered ev car in March, SSEN inform me that my incoming power cable is looped of neighbour so need to get unlooped and upgraded to 100 amp cutout fuse which thankfully is being done at zero cost , apart from the digging up of driveway which I can bear. But to get this work done meter tails need to be upgraded from 16mm to 25mm so arranged that through OVO at cost sounds pretty straightforward and this is where the problems begin, engineer booked for 2nd June took a day's holiday leave for his/her arrival,  no show and no contact from anyone beforehand,  Rebooked for 27th June and again no show, no contact and 2 days holiday leave lost. Now OVO have informed me that engineer has been Rebooked for September,  are they having a laugh, this totally messes up schedule for the unlooping and has me fuming 😤,  Does anyone know if I can get my payment refunded and employ an electrician to upgrade the tails by myself as this is beyond the joke and please don't mention the £30 compensation as it in know way makes up for the hassle and lost holiday's. 

Anyone else having a long wait to get meter tails upgraded or is it just me ?

Hey @Colzee,

I’m really sorry to hear of the experience you’ve had,

There’s always the option to raise a complaint, you might be able to ask for a priority appointment. Especially if you are being disadvantaged by the delay. 

Keep us posted with how you get on. 

Hey @Colzee,

Really sorry to hear this,

I’ll get Forum_Support to reach out, keep an eye on your private messages. 

Thank you as it totally messes up schedule for Ev charger getting fitted and sure they could get engineer to turn up long before September 

Did you get sorted in the end @Colzee ?

The government and industry are aware of the bottlenecks. It is going to be hard to scale up home charging and heat pumps without some changes. For example the ENA (Energy Networks Association) are looking into options around other people being allowed to change the cutout fuse. 

Certainly strange that kia is on the Intelligent Octopus list but still not on the ovo list. 

If you have an isolation switch fitted by Ovo do they “reenergise” the property afterwards? Customer services just advised that because the meter tails from the isolation switch are not their responsibility you would then need a private electrician to come along on the day and connect these. Seems a bit odd to me they would install the isolation switch and not reconnect.

The OVO engineer should de-energise the supply to fit the isolation switch, and then re-energise the supply when they’re finished. This will be at a cost of £158.25 if it’s a single phase supply. More info here:

I’m sorry if you were advised differently. Feel free to link to this topic in a webchat so the advisor you speak to can see this and then help get the appointment booked if it’s not already.